You want to get your family to eat healthy, but you’re getting pushback.
You want to lose weight, but the rest of your family is resistant to making any changes.
You feel like you’re on an island.
Unsupported.
And sometimes they treat you like The Villain who wants to take everyones treats away.
You’ve got everyone’s best interests at heart, but no one except you wants to be on board 🙁
How to get your family to eat healthy
While you cannot force people to want to improve, there are some gentle ways to coax your family into accepting some healthier lifestyle improvements:
1. Stock the house with healthy options
If you’re the head shopper, make sure that your refrigerator and pantry are stocked with vegetables, fruits, protein, and healthy snacks.
If you buy healthy food, that’s what your family will eat.
If you buy junk food, that’s what your family will eat.
Make people in your household go out of their way to get unhealthy food. This works great for you too!
(Here are some other ways to feed your family better.)
2. Don’t draw undue attention to your intentions to make the family healthier
If you’re making improvements in how you eat and how you plan meals, it’s not necessary to let everyone in the house know what you’re up to.
Sometimes simply drawing attention to changes can create automatic resistance to them.
So go ahead and make your plans, prep your food, upgrade the groceries — just don’t announce it to everyone.
If you treat healthier eating like it’s no big deal, you should have little resistance to small changes.
3. Never use food as a reward
Rewarding yourself or your children for a job well done is just fine, but don’t use food to do it.
Food rewards (such as getting dessert if you eat your vegetables, or celebrating a good report card with ice cream) set up unhealthy associations that you don’t want to instill.
Pick rewards like activities or gifts — fun things to do or to have — that aren’t food treats.
Same goes for YOU! If you deserve a reward, great. Just make it a non-food treat that you’ll enjoy.
If you want help getting your family healthier, contact us for a consultation.
We’ve got lots of options for you and your family members: personal training, nutrition plans, weight loss programs. Our trainers can work with you in Nashville, Brentwood, Franklin, Antioch, or in your home.